Ice machine



Mareh 2- c. A. WINGATE ETAL 2,275,121

' ICE MACHINE Filed July 26, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 CLARENCE A. l/V NGHTE (lttornegs March 3, 1942. c. Q. WINGATE ETAL ICE MACHINE Filed July 26, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 S am HTm M M W W ,K a J 2m w. W e 9 .Gttornegs tling any of the parts.

Patented Mar. 3, 1942 ICE MACHINE Clarence A. Wingate and WilliamJack Wingate, Norfolk; Va.

Application July 26, 1940, Serial No. 347,646

1 Claim.

This invention relates to a machine for shaving, chipping or pulverizing a block of ice so that it will be suitable for use in drinks or as a refrigerating agent.

It is an object of this invention to provide an inexpensive, compactice machine which can be carried from. place to place as the occasion demands, and placed in operation without disman- A compact portable machine is especially useful in soda fountains, clubs,

hospitals and the like where there is a large demand for chipped ice.

In many instances, it is more convenient to move the machine to the ice supply than to carry the ice in lump form to the machine. Therefore, it is highly advantageous to have a portable unit which can be easily moved.

' It is another object of this invention to provide an ice machine having a novel feeder plate which automatically forces the lump ice into engagement with the teeth of arctary cylinder to bechipped, shaved or pulverized. This plate is sufliciently weighted to force the lump of ice into engagement with the teeth without any additional pressure and is also constructed so that it will not contact the cylinder teeth when in lowermost position, and so that the operators hand is at all times shielded from injury during the operation of the plate.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a machine of the class described having an improved cylinder which is so constructed that the lump ice will be uniformly cracked or pulverized into pieces of any desired size.

Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objects will appear as the description proceeds, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a side elevation of an improved ice chipping machine;

Figure 2 is an elevation looking at the right hand side of Figure l;

Figure 3 is an elevation looking at the'lefthand side of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is an enlarged vertical sectional view taken along the line 4-4 in Figure 3, showing the feeder plate in a lowered position, and engaging a piece of ice within the hopper;

Figure 5 is a view showing the mice blades which are mounted in the rotary cylinder, said blades having their teeth occupying the same relative lateral position to each other as they occupy when installed in the cylinder;

Figure 6 is an isometric view of one of the blades shown in Figure 5;

iFigure lisansisometric view of the adjustable throatiplateawhich:works in conjunction with the cylinder. blades shown in Figure 5 when ice is chipped.

Referring morespecifically to the drawings,

themumeral I0 denotes a .base having secured vthereto an. upstanding bracket II, said bracket ,havingxa hopper. I2 mounted on the upper end thereof, by. anysuitable meanssuch as bolts I4. The-hopper I2 has. aishaft I6 rotatably mounted in its sidewalls andnear its lower end. This shaft'has keyed thereon a rotor I1, and this rotor has a plurality of'slots I8 in its periphery in which blades'l 9, 2|l-and 2| are removably mounted by any suitable means such as set screws 22. Eachofthe blades I9, 20 and 2| has a set of teeth .24 therein. ."It will be noted that the teeth 24 are so positioned in each plate that neither of the teeth in .one plate will travel ingthe same path of a toothxinanotherplate during the rotation of '111161' rotor II.. Instead. the teeth are staggered so that all-ofthe teeth'in the three plates combined will beof sufficient' width to extend the width of the hopper; consequently when a block of ice 3!] is thrown into the upper portion of the hopper, the entire bottom surface thereof will be subjected to the scarifying effect of the teeth of the three blades I9, 20 and 2|.

The rotor I! may have a concave groove 25 in its periphery adjacent each of the blades I9, 2!) and 2|, into which the ice passes after being shaved or chipped from block 30. These grooves are so shaped that the ice will readily clear the blades after being chipped, thereby preventing the clogging of the blades by shaved ice.

Adjustably secured within the hopper and in parallel spaced relation to the rotor I1 is a throat plate 26, said plate being wedge-shaped in cross section and having suitable slots 21 therein which slots are penetrated by bolts 28. The bolts 28 also penetrate the hopper housing to secure the plate 26 in place in spaced relation to the rotating blades I9, 20 and 2|. When it is desired to cut down the distance between the extremities of the teeth 24, and the throat plate 2e, it is only necessary to loosen the bolts 28 and to move the throat plate 26 downwardly. This movement will lessen the clearance and as a result the ice from the ice block 38 will be chipped or shaved to a finer degree.

It is sometimes necessary to provide a suitable means for increasing the pressure between the lower surface of the ice block 30 and the blades, I9, 29 and 2|, in the rotor cylinder H. In other Words, the gravity or weight of the block of ice 30 may not be sufiicient to cause the teeth 24 in the blades to properly engage the same. In order to provide a suitable means which can be used to apply this pressure, a suitable plate 3| is pivoted as at 32 near one edge of the upper opening of the hopper. This plate has a curved bottom surface 33 which is adapted to engage the top of the ice block 30 and it also has an enlarged weighted free end 3la. The free end of plate 3| has a U-shaped bolt 34 secured therein,

and this bolt serves as a handle whereby the free end of plate 3| can be lowered downwardly into the hopper as shown in Figure 4 or raised out of the hopper to the position shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3. When the plate is in raised position, suitable lugs 35 are adapted to rest upon the upper edge of the hopper and prevent further clockwise rotation due to the weight of the free end of the plate.

When a block of ice 39 is placed in the hopper the plate 3! is rotated in a counter-clockwise manner from the position shown in Figure 1, to the position shown in Figure 4. Then the weighted free end 3 la applies the necessary pressure to the top of ice block 30 to press it against the blades I9, 20 and 2|. The plate 3| is sufiiciently wide to protect the operators hand from the teeth 24 when pressure is applied manually.

When the block of ice 30 has passed through the machine the plate 3! will have been lowered sufiiciently to allow the head of a set screw 3'! to engage the inside wall of hopper [2. This screw is adjustably mounted in plate 3| and serves to prevent the free end of plate 3| from contacting blades 19, 20 and 2!.

The rotor shaft It extends beyond the hopper housing and has a pulley 38 fixed thereon, said pulley having a belt 39 mounted thereon which belt also is mounted upon another pulley 40 on a motor shaft 4|, of a motor 42, which in turn, is secured to the back side of the hopper housing. It is therefore seen that the motor 42 drives the rotor I! and its associated plates I9,

20 and 2! at a relatively high speed to thereby cause the bottom portion of the ice 30 to be shaved, cracked or pulverized into small particles. These particles are allowed to drop downwardly through the lower opening 44 of the hopper housing and then into a suitable container 45 which is adapted to be placed upon the base member Ill.

This unit can be manufactured cheaply and is designed so as to occupy very little space, thereby making it possible to place it in an inconspicuous place in drug stores, or other establishments where pulverized or cracked ice is in demand. The device is also portable which en- "ables one to move it from place to place to a supply of ice rather than bring the ice to the machine.

In the drawings and specification there has been set forth a preferred embodiment of the invention and although specific terms are employed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being set forth in the appended claim.

We claim:

Apparatus for chipping ice comprising a hopper, a rotary cylinder mounted in the hopper and having a plurality of longitudinally spaced cavities in the periphery of the cylinder, a toothed blade adjustably mounted in the rear edge of each cavity, the teeth of each blade projecting beyond the periphery of the cylinder, a throat plate adjustably mounted in the hopper and past which the teeth rotate, the teeth in the blades each being staggered longitudinally of the cylinder so that each blade cuts its own path in the ice and does not follow the path of any other blade, a weighted member pivoted in the hopper for pressing a block of ice against the teeth of the blades in the cylinder and means for adjusting the limit of downward movement of the weighted member.

CLARENCE A. WINGATE. WILLIAM J. WINGATE. 

